


Gathering

by DesertVixen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Backstory, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Hunger Games type setting, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 11:51:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16284083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: How Harry Potter might have been the Boy who Volunteered...(Hunger Games type setting)





	Gathering

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



Once the magic users had lived in a separate society, unseen by people who could not use magic. The two groups – magic users and Muggles, the term witches and wizards used for normal people – had marched along parallel paths in peaceful separation. The separation had been their reaction to the punishments doled out to witches and wizards for daring to be different. It was an episode of history that some magic users had never forgotten, that they had decided the Muggles must pay for.

Four of the great witches and wizards of that long-ago era – Goderic Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff – had founded Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, an academy where witches and wizards were trained in the arcane arts. Sometimes students from Muggle families were brought to the school as well, but they were few and far between. The experiences at the academy went on to shape the very fabric of wizarding society, and after two generations of students had passed through the doors of Hogwarts, people had begun to identify themselves by their house – brave Gryffindor, wise Ravenclaw, competent Hufflepuff, calculating Slytherin. Traditions became rivalries, and rivalries led to tensions. 

Then a fearsome wizard named Voldemort, the spiritual heir of Salazar Slytherin, turned everything upside down, leading his forces in a revolt that brought the wizarding world crashing into the Muggle world. The war between the various wizarding factions had wreaked havoc on the Muggles, as much as their own. Voldemort had intended to make them pay for the sins of their ancestors, and they had paid. Although the evil wizard was suddenly vanquished at the height of the war, when the dust had cleared, the wizarding world was not ready to go back into the shadows. Even those who had fought to defeat Voldemort wished to remain involved in the Muggle world – some even felt that it was their duty to do so, after the wizarding war had spilled out onto people who played no role in it.

The Muggles were not ready for the witches and wizards to walk among them. They were frightened, and so another war began. It had been the height of human arrogance and folly to believe that non-magic weapons could defeat the witches and wizards now.

And so the Muggles lost.

And so the winners – witches and wizards – wrote a new set of rules.

Their new society was divided into districts. The district system allowed for tight control of food production and other industries. To add insult to injury and hunger, each year districts had to undergo the ordeal known as the Gathering.

The Gathering made reaching the age of eleven a source of anxiety. Each year, a representative from Hogwarts came to each district, and selected names of eleven-year-olds from a glass ball. It was always at least one boy and one girl, although the number varied from year. 

But all the names who were picked had one thing in common.

They were almost never seen again.

Some whispered that they were simply killed, to punish the districts. Others claimed that they were tortured by young witches and wizards learning their dark arts. A very few even whispered that they were trained to use magic.

But they were almost never seen again.

On the rare occasions that they did come back, no one could make any sense out of their stories. 

It was possible for another eleven-year-old to volunteer to replace the named person, but it had never happened.

This year, the eleven-year panic had impacted the Dursley household. Dudley Dursley, the spoiled only son of the house had recently turned eleven, as had his slightly younger cousin Harry Potter. Of course, Harry thought sourly, his aunt and uncle were not worried about him – just Dudley. His aunt Petunia had cried the entire week while making everything about what Dudley wanted, and his uncle Vernon had vented much of his concern about his son’s future on Harry’s backside. Dudley, as usual, was dressed in expensive clothes for the Gathering, while Harry had to make do with ill-fitting castoffs.

Now, as they stood waiting for the ceremony to begin, Harry wished it was already over.

*** 

Minerva McGonagall adjusted her hat and consulted the list she had tucked inside the sleeve of her robe. She really wished that they could give up this silly charade and simply explain to people that the chosen children had magical ability, and that they were taking them to school. There was, however, still a sizeable faction that believed the Muggles needed more punishment, or they might rise again. 

So, while the Muggles cowered in their district squares and watched anxiously, they did not know that the names were not random – it was only the magic that made it appear so. They told the Muggles that someone could volunteer to take the place of the people who were chosen, but it had never happened, not when the Muggles believed they were sending people to their certain death.

McGonagall hated this part of the process, but she loved teaching young wizards and witches. So she played along.

As always, she called the girl’s name first – Catherine Everdeen. Catherine stepped forward, trying to smile but shaking and trying to stand as far away from McGonagall as possible.

Then, she called the name of the first boy – this year, there are two. “Dudley Dursley.”

*** 

_Dudley Dursley._

The words hang in the air as Harry hears his aunt’s anguished sobbing, his uncle’s useless cursing.

Life with Dudley around is already bad enough. Harry can only imagine how they’ll treat him once they’re left with just him. Whatever happens to the people that the witches and wizards Gather, it can’t be worse than that, even if it does mean that he simply dies.

So Harry Potter pushes forward and yells the five words that will change his life. “I volunteer to be Gathered.”

The older woman in charge of the Gathering simply stares at him. “What is your name, volunteer?”

He lifts his chin and stares her straight in the eyes. “Harry Potter.”

*** 

Minerva McGonagall isn’t an easy woman to surprise, but she is surprised now. There’s no question that the boy is a Potter, is the Potter, is the child who has been missing for eleven years. She can see his father in him, one of her best students.

He’s volunteering, but his name was to be the next one she called. She supposes she should tell him he can’t volunteer, but then she realizes that the stupid illusion of randomly picking the names makes that impossible. 

It’s just that no one ever has volunteered.

Perhaps they don’t really need Dudley Dursley at Hogwarts anyway, she decides. That, and maybe now someone will listen to her complaint about the stupidity of the setup.

“Step forward, Harry Potter.” McGonagall gives him the command in her coldest voice, and is amused to see him do so without hesitation. He doesn’t act like he’s frightened.

She notices that the people he was standing with do not come forward to wish him well – not even the person he volunteered for. 

*** 

Somehow, Harry manages to sleep on the train. 

When the train stops and Harry wakes, it is dark and they’re led to a dock where small boats are tied up, and a foreboding castle lies on the other side of a lake. A giant of a man loads them into boats and takes them across, until they stand on the very steps of the castle itself. McGonagall is there, along with several others, including an older wizard with the longest white beard Harry has ever seen.

“Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” the older wizard said, his voice booming in an impossible way. “You have been chosen because you have magical abilities, or you have volunteered because you are very brave. Either way, there is a place for you here.”

Harry had the sudden feeling that his choice to volunteer was going to change his whole life…for the better.

He couldn’t wait.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like it! I really loved your prompt and went around a few times on the approach before I decided this one made the most sense. 
> 
> Plus, it gave me the opportunity for the Gathering joke. :)


End file.
